WYNNE, RICHARD M.

WYNNE, RICHARD M. (1844–1912). Richard M. Wynne, politician and civic leader, was born in Haywood County, Tennessee, on June 2, 1844, the son of W. B. and Sarah A. (Moore) Wynne. Soon after the birth the family moved to Rusk, Texas, and Wynne attended public school in Bellevue. During the Civil War he was a lieutenant in the Tenth Texas Regiment and was wounded in the battles of Murfreesboro and Nashville. He was taken prisoner at Nashville and spent the rest of the war in northern prison camps. He was released in the winter of 1865. In 1866 Wynne was elected sheriff, probably in Rusk County, and served three years. He married Laura B. Kelley on January 23, 1867. They had four children. He learned law, was admitted to the bar in 1870, and practiced law in Henderson. In 1880 Wynne was elected to the state Senate, where he supported the establishment of the Railroad Commission and served on the committee that framed the law for the establishment of the University of Texas. In 1882 he lost an election bid for attorney general and moved to Fort Worth the following year. He became a permanent president of the state convention in 1886. Wynne was a charter member and first president of the Texas Children's Home and Aid Society in 1897. He served as superintendent of the Texas Confederate Home in Austin from 1909 to his death. He was a Presbyterian and a Democrat. He died in Austin on July 15, 1912, and was buried in Fort Worth.